Page 104 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“The motel had a room. I’ll get checked in and stay there. It’s not that I don’t want to see you. I just didn’t want to intrude on you over the holidays and cause extra work for you to have a guest. But I’m planning to be over every day. Okay?”
“Oh . . . okay,” Noelle said. She dropped her head and stared at the floor for a few moments, still holding Felicity’s hands. Then she looked up to me with worried eyes. “Oh, ah, Gigi, about Christmas . . .” Noelle started but trailed off.
We were having a big Christmas dinner at the farmhouse in three days. Much like Thanksgiving, it was going to be me, Jess, Rowen and Noelle.
“You’re both welcome to come over for the day,” I said. “I’ve already done the shopping and we’ll have enough food for an army.”
I stepped away from Jess, moving toward Noelle and Felicity. Sticking out my hand, I introduced myself to Jess’s sister.
“Hi, I’m Gigi. I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we should start over?” I hoped that she would be pleasant, if not for me or Jess, at least for her mother.
She tipped her head down toward my hand with a small grimace on her lips. I thought for a second she was going to dismiss my peace offering, but then her perfectly manicured fingers touched mine for a light shake.
“Felicity. Pleasure.” It wasn’t said nicely but it was certainly an improvement.
“This is my daughter, Rowen,” I said, introducing Roe, who was now attached to Jess’s leg.
“Hmm,” Felicity said, tipping her head in Rowen’s direction.
“Lissy,” Jess said. “Fuck. Can you take off those fucking glasses? In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re inside.”
“Jess! Watch it with the language,” I said.
“Relax, Georgia. Roe knows that there are words she can’t say. ‘Fuck’ being one of them. Right, little bit?” he asked her.
“Right,” she confirmed with a single nod.
I threw my hands in the air, muttering, “Whatever”.
“Lissy—” Jess started but she interrupted him by shaking her head and tipping her chin to the floor.
“Not today, Jess. Please,” she pleaded quietly.
She lifted her head back up and slid her sunglasses off her face and into her hair.
I’d been right, the sunglasses were to hide her eyes. They were bright red and ringed with deep purple circles underneath. Felicity hadn’t shed a few tears for Wes, she had cried him a river.
Jess tensed and backed off from grilling his sister.
“Okay. Not today. But we’ll expect you for Christmas. You want to get together before then, give me a call,” he said.
She slid her glasses back onto her face. “Okay. I was going to do some shopping tomorrow. Walk around downtown and see what’s new. Maybe we could meet for lunch?”
“Noon. Meet you at the café.”
“Fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and pay my respects to Jack and Annie.”
She hugged Noelle one last time and walked out of our huddle, directly toward Wes’s parents.
As Felicity approached, Annie burst into tears and rushed to embrace her. Felicity stood there stiffly while Annie sobbed into her black silk shirt. Jack approached the women and threw his arms around them both. His affection seemed to relax Felicity a bit and she wrapped a hand around his waist and leaned her head into his shoulder.
A lump formed at the back of my throat. Watching them together was heartbreaking.
Jess watched them for a minute and then reached down to hoist Rowen up on his hip. Grabbing my hand, he said, “Time to get my girls home,” and guided us out.
“Let’s do something fun,” I suggested on the drive home after we’d dropped off Noelle.
“Today?” Jess asked.
